1 cup powdered sugar.
Put water and beaten whites together; dip in each peach when you have rubbed off the fur with a clean cloth, and then roll in powdered sugar. Set up carefully, on the stem end, upon a sheet of white paper, laid on a waiter in a sunny window. When half dry, roll again in the sugar. Expose to the sun and breeze until perfectly dry, then, put in a cool, dry place until you are ready to arrange them in the glass dish for table.
Frosted and Glacé Oranges.
| 6 sweet, large oranges. | ||
| Whites of two eggs, whisked stiff | —for frosting. | |
| 1 table-spoonful water, | ||
| 1 cup powdered sugar. | ||
| Cochineal. | ||
| 1 cup sugar, | —for glazing. | |
| 1 ounce gum arabic, | ||
| 2 table-spoonfuls hot water, |
Pare the oranges, squeezing them as little as you can, remove every particle of the inner white skin, and divide them into lobes, taking care not to break the skin. Take half of the sugar meant for frosting, and stir it up with a few drops of liquid cochineal. Spread on a dish in the sun to dry, and if it lump, roll or pound again to powder. Put the white sugar in another dish. Add the water to the stiffened whites; dip in one-third of the orange lobes and roll in the white sugar; another third, first in the eggs and water, then in the red sugar. Lay them upon a sheet of paper to dry.
Put the gum arabic and hot water together over the fire, and when the gum is melted, add the cup of sugar. Stir until it is a clear, thick glue. Set in a pan of hot water and dip the remaining pieces of orange in it. Lay a stick lengthwise on a flat dish, and lean the lobes against it on both sides, to dry.
Heap red, white, and yellow together in a glass dish, and garnish with leaves—orange or lemon leaves if you can get them.
This is a delicate, but not difficult, bit of work, and the effect is very pretty.